1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general art of static structures, and to the particular field of trim or shield members at corners of static structures.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In nearly all habitable buildings, the areas where upright walls join floors may be unsightly when the building is first constructed. This unsightliness is generally created during the rough construction of the building and must be covered for the finished building. Molding strips are generally applied to the walls adjacent to the intersection of the wall and the floor to cover these unsightly areas. These molding strips are generally fixed to the wall using some sort of adhesive or mechanical fasteners. This requires skill, patience, care and experience. If not properly applied, a molding may have to be removed or repaired, either of which can be difficult and time consuming, and may be especially onorous if a contractor is required to remove improperly placed molding and replace it with new molding at his own expense.
If adhesive is used, the molding may have to be removed in strips with a great deal of clean-up work completed before new molding is placed on the wall. Not only are materials lost, time is consumed.
Pry bars and the like are often required to remove molding. When molding is removed in this manner, there is danger of damaging a floor or the wall adjacent to the molding. Damage to a floor or a wall is undesirable under most circumstances, but certainly in circumstances when a finished floor is damaged during removal of improperly placed molding. Painted or papered walls are also quite susceptible to damage during removal of molding.
It is sometimes necessary to remove molding for repair of the molding itself, or for repair or rework of the wall or the floor. If the molding is securely fixed to the wall, such desired removal may be very difficult or nearly impossible.
Therefore, there is a need for a baseboard molding strip unit that can be easily and accurately placed. There is a further need for a baseboard molding strip unit that can be easily removed and replaced if necessary.
Furthermore, in some cases, properly applied molding may still have gaps. This is especially true when a floor has been remodeled with a new finished product. It can be difficult and exacting work to apply molding to such gaps.
Therefore, there is a need for a baseboard molding unit that can be applied in a wide variety of situations.
Many people do their own work, i.e., are xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselfers.xe2x80x9d Such people may be quite skilled in many areas, but it is nearly impossible to be highly skilled in all phases of home modeling or re-modeling work. Thus, it is advantageous if work can be made as easy as possible for an unskilled person to achieve a finished product closely approaching the product that a highly skilled expert could achieve. This is especially true for finish work, including molding in a building. Such a product would benefit skilled and experienced workers as well.
Therefore, there is a need for a baseboard molding unit that can be applied by an unskilled person in a manner that can achieve a finished appearance approaching that achievable by a skilled person.
Room corners are an especially difficult area for proper placement of baseboard molding. Even skilled and experienced craftsman often find it difficult to properly place molding near room corners. This is especially troublesome for an unskilled or inexperienced person.
Therefore, there is a need for a baseboard molding unit that can be accurately, yet easily placed near room corners.
It is a main object of the present invention to provide a baseboard molding strip unit that can be easily and accurately placed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a baseboard molding strip unit that can be easily removed and replaced if necessary.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a baseboard molding unit that can be applied in a wide variety of situations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a baseboard molding unit that can be applied by an unskilled person in a manner that can achieve a finished appearance approaching that achievable by a skilled person.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a baseboard molding unit that can be accurately, yet easily placed near room corners.
These, and other, objects are achieved by a baseboard molding strip unit which includes a wall-mounted track section fixed to a wall adjacent to a floor when in a set-up configuration and which includes a dovetail joint element; a baseboard element having a groove defined therein, with the groove being shaped and sized to snugly yet slidably receive the dovetail joint element on the wall-mounted track section in a snap-on manner; and fasteners releasably fastening the wall-mounted track section to the wall in the set-up configuration.
The wall-mounted track section is easily fixed to a wall, yet can easily be removed if necessary. Any marring of the wall near the molding unit caused by either placement or removal of the wall unit can be covered by the baseboard element. Thus, re-finish work is minimized for several reasons, including ease of initial placement, ease of removal and an ability to cover marred surfaces. Pry bars and hammers are not required as nails and/or screws can be used because they will be covered by the baseboard in the set-up configuration.
The unit of the present invention also includes corner pieces that can be fixed to either an inner or an outer corner and the remainder of the unit is easily modified to accommodate the corner pieces. Thus, placing molding near room corners is quite easily accomplished, even by an unskilled or inexperienced workman.